HPD: man may have suffered heart attack before fatal wreck

Police: Driver lost control, slammed into ditch

An accident in east Houston left one man dead Saturday morning, and police think a medical trauma may be to blame.

Police said the driver, a man in his 40s, was driving northbound on McCarty and Portwall around 8 a.m. when he lost control and ran into a nearby ditch.

Investigators said he struck a pipe in the ditch with so much force it caused the car to bounce back out of the ditch before finally coming to a stop.

"Upon striking the concrete pipe, the vehicle flipped out of the ditch onto the roadway and that's where HFD and Houston Police found him," said officer Robert Klementich with the Houston Police Department.

Police said the victim was wearing his seat belt, and don't think speed or alcohol played a role in the deadly accident. They do believe, however, that the victim had some sort of medical trauma, such as a heart attack, while he was driving that may have led to the deadly crash into the ditch, investigators said.

"It might be a medical situation, because there was no erratic driving by the driver before the crash," Klementich said.

So far, police haven't released the victim's name.

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